Brothers out for redemption as Souths chase fairytale in Townsville A grade decider

Author: Jacob Grams QRL community content producer
Timestamp: Sat 9 Sep 2023, 10:56 AM

One year older and wiser, Brothers' young brigade is out to earn their success against Souths Bulls in the Rugby League Townsville and District A grade grand final on Sunday.

'The Fish' have been the dominant force in the competition in 2023, conceding just the two games this year, including to Souths 42-12 in their emotional return to A grade in Round 1.

Brothers got the better of the Bulls in two further contests, but only by one point in each, setting the scene for a thrilling grand final.

Brothers were beaten grand finalists last year, which second rower Bingen Balanzategui said would serve he and other young players well come Sunday.

"Obviously last year I think we took a lot of experience from that. We still had a pretty young side, so a lot of those boys have carried through to this year," Balanzategui said.

"Losing one definitely hurt, but I think we can learn a lot from it going to another one this year.

"For a lot of us it was our first year in senior footy pretty much, so we've been around the block once and we know the week leading up, preparation and getting ourselves ready and what to expect.

"We've had a pretty successful year this year and we've just done that by playing our footy and sticking to our processes, so going into the grand final we shouldn't have to change anything."

The win would be a reward for Balanzategui's consistency and commitment to taking care of himself in the off-season, a key focus after a broken leg and broken jaw have each disrupted his pursuit of rugby league goals.

It's a lesson learnt from the squad's more experienced players, many who have excelled at Hostplus Cup level with Townsville Blackhawks.

"I've definitely trained really hard, but it's also been good playing with a lot of the senior boys because they've obviously been around the block and know what they're doing, so it's good to soak up all their knowledge and keep learning," Balanzategui said.

"I know every week I'm learning more and more from them and it really helps me progress."

Brothers coach Michael Parker-Walshe said the efforts to introduce players like under 19s premiership winner Balanzategui to senior footy was paying dividends, regardless on Sunday's result.

"We tried to, take the club in a bit of a direction last year where we wanted to give as many young guys a go as we possibly could," he said.

"It worked out to that we had a lot of injuries last year and a lot of suspensions, and we haven't had as many this year, but we've still been able to bring these kids through and give them an opportunity to see what they can do in A grade.

"We've got some older guys there that probably won't be around the club for too much longer in a playing capacity, so we just feel as a club, it's really important that some of our junior guys that have been there since under 6s, under 7s, under 8s to give them a go and see what they've got.

"And I mean every kid that we've given a chance over the last two years has really stood up and shown that they're going be up for it, so it's really pleasing as a coach and I guess from the club's point of view too, to be able to sit back and see those young guys perform in a tough men's competition and know the club's in really good hands moving forward."

This week Parker-Walshe has reminded the young brigade to enjoy the grand final lead-up, but despite going in as favourites, play it like it could be your last.

"I've been involved in plenty of grand finals where you've gone in as underdogs or you've gone in as favourites and it means nothing on the day," he said.

"Souths will run out a really good footy team with threats right across the park and we're going to have to be at our best to even compete with those guys.

"If we're not, then we leave ourselves open to getting beaten, so we've just got to make sure that we're on our game and we're giving them our best footy for 80 minutes."

Souths Bulls president Chris Newton said being in the position to win a premiership on return to A grade was as much as they could've hoped for prior to the weekend.

"We're very, very happy. Not satisfied yet, but very happy," he said.

The Bulls came together on Thursday night to rally behind all their junior and senior teams competing in grand finals this week, holding a barbecue after training for junior teams, who then got into the spirit of senior grand final fanfare to watch the last training session for the A grade and under 19s for Sunday's decider.

Souths are expecting to have to do it without the league's player of the year Curtis Dempsey, who also missed the preliminary final win, barring a miracle injury recovery.

The men's A grade is one of four senior grand finals on Sunday at Townsville Sports Reserve.

The earlier women's A grade decider will feature Western Lions aiming to win their fourth consecutive premiership.